Hello pubbies!
My ingame name is .:iGi:. stoffen and I dare say im a regular to pubbing. Ive been playing since 0.6 and each version is a new opportunity to get some good times out of PR.

Here is how to have an epic time as part of match. This is how PR could be played from a commanders wievpoint, but really, anyone who likes PR should read this to better understand some of the dynamics the game contains. Its quite a read but Gl & Hf

The role of the commander is something most people get, so I will go straight to the point of this thread.

Mumble and its effects on public command

With mumble becoming an integrated part of PR, and the number of people actually using it, a whole new aspect of public commanding has emerged. Now, infantry and assets alike is able to work together with all other elements in their sorroundings.

Flexible group creations

This is as good as it gets since it allows you to form groups of squads that can work together in completing the mission assigned to these particular squads. Therefor the commander doesnt have to do all the talking between the squadleaders, its essensially like fire-and-forget. You bunch a number of squads together, tell them what to do, and the commander is free to focus elsewhere. The major advantedge in this is the commanders ability to better opperate in conjunction with the whole team as well as individual squads.

Close Air Support
Furthermore, coordinating CAS is much easier since the commander is not stressed from doing all the communication at once.

Public CO dependency changed with mumble

As a result, some might say that the commander is now not at all needed. I partly agree, BUT, this is limited to very small or skirmish maps. The larger maps, such as Qwai, Kashan or Archer almost require a commander.

The new role of the commander is to mould his team to a fluent an interdependent cluster of organs that can opperate by itself and with other elements. All thanks to mumble, which is simply the best thing since sliced bread and PR itself.

As an organisational example as well as a guideline for the same:

1. Platoons

The most basic element of a team consists of two infantry squads opperating as a platoon.

Ofc depending on the assets avalible and the map itself the team should be organized around two infantry platoons. This is because of the infantry survivability and their great ability to defend flags. For example, it will take 24 enemy players to cap a flag defended by a platoon (12 players). This is particularly true on maps such as Qingling. If all the squads immediately roll out in all the assets, the team will most likely have to walk from their main after 45mins of game time.

Infantry is great for defending and are therefor very cost efficient. After all, you only have 12 tickets on the line for defending that objective, whereas a platoon of 3 tanks is close to 50 tickets if not more (dont recall if its 10 or 20 tickets that goes when a tank goes).

24 infantry players may sound a bit ridiculous. Where is their AT capability? First of all it comes from 2 HAT kits and 4 LAT kits. Second is air support (where the commander is crucial). It only takes one attack helicopter to destroy a platoon of tanks. Tactics for how to do this is another subject and will not be discussed further.

2. Support elements

The rest of the team is there to support the infantry with a variety of assets depending on what is nescesarry. However, air assets are the best asset to support infantry, transport firesupport etc. Therefore, if air assets are availible they should be used to the exclusion of other assets. With 24 infantry players, only 7 players are free to support the infantry platoons. This could take form in 2 attack helicopters, 2-3 transport helicopters. This is in my experince the most powerfull support element the commander can make, its speed and firepower is better than anything else. The speed here is crucial, it will take tanks and apc's far mroe time to move around and support where needed compared to the mix above.

Normally the best way to us your support elements, is to assign them to a platoon. That way, the sql's of the squads involved will learn to reconize the voicies of the others in the element. The greates problem with this structure is that it give a far greater mumble traffic than anything else. 7-8 squadleaders in the mumble channel coordinating in each of their ends of the map can give a headache. This is where your commander comes in. Coordination between platoons on the ground and their support assets in the air goes through the commander, or caos WILL follow on mumble.

For example:
A platoon has been holding an objective and the rest of the team has succesfully neutralized an enemy flag, therefor the platoon is free to assign new missions. The commander gives the squadleadrs a new misison and, when the squadleaders have planned how to best do complete that mission, sends a pair of transport helicopters for them. When the helis land to extract, the squadleaders tell their pilots where to go.

The number 1 golden rule is finding the best support units for the infantry.

On maps such as kashan, it sometimes make sense to mount the infantry mechanized in apc's. This should be done within the platoon, therfor, two apc's to an inf platoon. This leaves the support players free to use tanks or other powerfull assets.

Likewise, it often makes sense to bring a single AA vehicle with a platoon if the platoon itself is not airborne (in wich case, some AA kits will do).

It should be clear now that these elements can be mixed and matched in accordance to needs. One of my personal favorites is having a fast but light moving contingent and a slow but more heavy moving contingent.

With mumble becoming an integrated part of PR, and the number of people actually using it, a whole new aspect of public commanding has emerged. Now, infantry and assets alike is able to work together with all other elements in their sorroundings.

Well as a strong and guess....also old supporter of an increase in the CO culture of the game, i view it as a sit-back for the evolvement of Commanders - when more and more can be played without them on the PR battlefield.

But - since i really havent played PR since last summer, i dont know if any other change has been made to counter-balance that (in my opinion) sit-back.

I like the Platoon set-up. believe most tournament teams more or less evolved their organisations into platoons too. Most - if not all of the teams started out with squads only. Not sure if any tournament team today havent at least tested the platoon setup.

Nice guide.

We who play these kinds of games are the first generation of war robot pilots.
Today we pilot a camera in 3D heaven.

Tomorrow...

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.